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Cyber warfare: The BBC interview that launched a hacking war

When the US government effectively point-blank accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of corruption in amassing a vast secret fortune, the Kremlin commanded its powerful hacking teams to attack American targets and unsettle the US election.

That is the theory of Dr Greg Austin, one of Australia's foremost experts in cyber warfare, who has little doubt Russia is behind the recent wave of attacks that have embarrassed the White House.

Those cyber offensives include the hacking of a Democratic Party server and its ongoing leak of damaging emails relating to likely US President Hillary Clinton.

Moscow has vigorously denied any involvement, but the electronic footprint of two hacking teams aligned to the Kremlin - Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear - were detected in the Democratic Party breach, according to the US security firm who investigated the incident.

Dr Austin, a professor from the Australian Centre for Cyber Security at UNSW, told nine.com.au that Russia's cyber space offensives are a warning shot across the bows of Clinton and any incoming administration to not mess with Putin's political or personal affairs.

"If the US government dig deep on Putin's dirt, then the Russians are going throw American dirt into the public domain," Dr Austin said.

Since Russia annexed Crimea from the Ukraine, and the old foes clashing in war-ravaged Syria, the relationship between Washington and Moscow has deteriorated to frosty lows not seen since the end of the Cold War.

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But, Dr Austin claimed, the tension truly escalated after the BBC aired an interview with a US government official in January, where for the first time Americans made public their belief Putin was corrupt.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrives for a meeting with the newly promoted top officers from various branches of the Russian armed forces at the Kremlin in Moscow Source: AFP

In the BBC Panorama program, the ruler of Russia was accused of building a $40bn fortune on the back of widespread corruption. Panorama claimed Putin had looted his own nation to become the richest man in Europe, and one of the wealthiest individuals in the world – despite drawing an official income of just USD $110,000.

Adam Szubin, a US Treasury official, spoke candidly with Panorama, plainly stating that the US government had known Putin was corrupt for "many, many years".

"I'm not in a position to give you figures but what I can say is [Putin] supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year. That is not an accurate statement of the man's wealth," Szubin continued.

An employee wipes a TV screen in a shop in Moscow, during the broadcast of President Vladimir Putin's televised question and answer session with the nation. Source: AFP / ALEXANDER NEMENOV

"He has long time training and practices in terms of how to mask his actual wealth."

It was a startlingly frank statement, and one that filled the Kremlin with both anger and anxiety.

"What that [information] meant in cyber space terms is that the United States government had the potential to spill the beans on Putin," Dr Austin said.

The immediate directive from Moscow was for its Russian hacker units to disrupt the US election and create confusion in the American political process, he claimed.

That alleged cyber activity includes manipulation of voter records, infiltrating government servers and dumping of sensitive data and emails, CNN reports.

Together the US and Russia have signed an agreement on tracking cyber threats against their nuclear missile command and control capabilities.

Although cyber space has so far proven benign in terms of military crises, the US and Russia both concede that a highly-skilled cyber attack could affect the launch readiness of their nuclear arsenals, Dr Austin said.

Outside of cyber space, Moscow's response to US Treasury's corruption claims were to front up with the evidence or keep quiet.

Putin was more succinct: "It's simply rubbish. I'm sure they just picked [those numbers] out of someone's nose".